6 Go-To Project Management Tools for Freelancers

As a freelancer, you may often feel like you have too many irons in the fire. When several deadlines are approaching at the same time, you simply can’t avoid project management. And your reputation is on the line. To make sure that you get paid, you must meet your deadlines.

Lucky for you, there are many project management tools that can make the job easier for you. And even if you consider yourself an organized person, these tools can help you document your work, track your progress, and see how you're spending your time.

If you’re managing several recurring projects for different client at the same time, you could benefit from using Trello. The application gives you an organizational board that is separated into lists and each list consists of one or more tasks.

You can create a different board for each client, and after adding all tasks for a client, you can choose a deadline and write your notes. You can track each task from its creation to invoicing.

Thanks to its simple user experience, Asana is easy to use without any training. You can create new projects and divide them into sub-tasks, assigning a separate deadline to each.

The tool allows you to monitor your progress, use color-coding to separate clients, and share your projects with others. An email reminder is also a useful feature to those of us who need that extra push to meet the deadline.

Similar to Trello and Asana, you start with creating your projects and assigning tasks and deadlines to each of them. What is unique about Wrike is the ability to track the time you spend on each task and share your timeline with others. You can even do this with colleagues who are not using Wrike since the application integrates with Chrome, your email, Adobe Creative Cloud, JIRA, GitHub, and others.

If you prefer dashboards that have everything from projects and time tracking to invoices and expenses in one place, you may want to try Bonsai. It also features contract templates that make the delivery and signing of contracts fast and easy.

Designed for freelancers, Thrive allows you to create projects, track them, and invoice your clients. What sets it apart is that this application stores all of your client data and analyzes which clients are the most profitable. You can also track which clients have paid and which ones you still need to invoice.

In addition to basic task management, Podio gives you the opportunity to control the entire design of each project outline. If your tasks are detailed and complex and you prefer customized layouts, this tool could be a good option for you.

Podio also lets you create project templates, thus giving you the ability to replicate similar projects. Rather than creating a new project, you can use a previous project as a template.

If you’re looking to step up your proposals and pitch deck, Qwilr is a great template tool to help out. You can download your proposal as a PDF, or send it to clients as a web page. You can even embed spreadsheets, videos, and presentations as an additional pro-move. You can also track the proposal and give it digital signature capability — helpful for any freelancer looking to stand out.

Which to use?

Using project management tools such as the ones mentioned in this article can make the management of your projects easier and smoother. This saves your time and lets you spend it on other things such as creating content or finding clients. For example, additional tools can help in other facets of your own work, editing tools and services such as Handmadewritings, ProWritingAid, and Readable can help you with your writing or copy for your site and streamline your own processes.

Too many to choose from? Don't worry, just take your time to consider what your business needs and goals are and which features would therefore be most useful to you. Once you find a suitable management tool, you will notice how your project management and invoicing will improve and become more efficient.

Josh Carlyle is a professional blogger and a personal coach, who works for such services as Writing Guru and Write my essay today. An experienced businessman, Josh is here to share his ideas and insights, taken directly from the forefront of online business.